"Almost all creativity involves purposeful play."

Day 38:

Our style of home-ed has gone completely out of the window since all this began, It was never really structured to start with but I always had a plan in my head each morning of the work we were probably going to be doing. These days I think it's far more important to be focusing on the mental health of our kids. All this is so much for them to deal with emotionally. So with that In mind our days have been all about the creative side of learning, we do what ever makes Opeie feel happiest. Today we made a dinosaur mask for his LEGO Boost and he did some coding. It's always a fun educational activity that never disappoints. 

This whole thing is hard enough without having to worry about academic learning while the schools are closed. get playing with your kids, that's where the real magic is.

一期一会

A few months back I had a message from the mom of Opeie's penpal asking if we would be interested in being interviewed by a Japanese newspaper who were writing a piece on education and had been let down by a home ed group. The whole thing sounded really interesting and I thought it would be a great experience for Opeie and something fun to add into us documenting his home ed journey.  To make the visit even more exciting too, Opeie would get to meet his penpal Caelan as his mom Melissa was driving the journalist over to our home.

On the morning they arrived I was a little apprehensive, mainly because our house isn't a classic style home and although everyone that has visited here seems to love the way that we live, I wasn't sure that would translate well to the journalist (I'm pretty sure eventually someone will think we are idiots). It turns out there was no need to worry, when Melissa, Caelan and Saori arrived they all seemed pretty excited by the madness and as we talked I think it was clear why I chose to have our home this way.

The boys hit it off straight away and disappeared to play LEGO while I chatted with Melissa and Saori. It was really lovely having someone so interested in our home ed journey and despite being filmed (which is really out of my comfort zone) the morning was very relaxing. I feel like we have been home-schooling forever, it's the norm for us now and has been such an exciting adventure for the both of us. Being asked all about the reasoning behind home ed and my feelings on the education system in this country reinforced my passion for why we took the step.

Another thing that really reinforced this was Opeie's confidence talking to Saori and feeling completely comfortable with her observing him and how we are together as a family. He happily played his drums, discussed his beetle project and explained how much he loved having his work on display around the house. I'm pretty sure that Opeie comes across as a very content child to everyone he meets and this one to one education along side our happy home life is definitely responsible for this. I genuinely don't think that he would be the same child being dragged through the education system. 

The article was published last week and it was really interesting seeing the both of us in a Japanese newspaper. It definitely wasn't the way that we were expecting to be starting our first week of home ed this year but every September we have done something special to make sure that we realise how lucky we are to be on this education path for Opeie, and our presence in The Asahi Shimbun Globe is definitely this years bit of magic.  

"The butterfly counts not months but moments, and has time enough."

I love the build up to the boys birthdays, I get so excited about all the prepping. When I asked Opeie what he wanted to do for his birthday this year, that little beetle lover of mine wanted nothing more than to take his friends to the butterfly farm in Stratford-upon-avon, after a very exciting visit last year. Our previous visit was one of those days out that will stay with him for a long long time and that was all down to the interesting and very well educated staff. So it was no surprise really that he would want to go again and share the magic with his friends.

Our previous visit was a dreary and wet day but this time the sun was out and it was amazing to see the difference in the butterflies as they seemed so much more active with the sun shining through the roof. One of the things I love most about the butterfly farm is that the excitement begins as soon as you walk through the doors to the butterfly area. Within a minute each of the kids had a new friend land on them and that was pretty much all they needed to kick start an amazing visit.

One thing that always sticks out when visiting is the interesting and friendly staff that work there.  These guys are so full of amazing informative information and from a home education point of view this is priceless. Mark took us through all of the stages of a butterflies life cycle, pointed out lots of different types of butterflies and answered every question we could throw at him. This visit was a little more exciting too as the kids were able to handle the giant stick insects, millipede's and other fun creatures from the Mini beasts area.

I could spend hours at the butterfly farm, happily sat on a bench with a sketch book, doodling as people walk around in awe of all the beautiful butterflies fluttering by. Being able to bring Opeie's friends along too was a lovely experience for him as many of our visits to various places has just been the 2 of us, so it was nice to share the fun that we have with other Home-Ed children. If you are out for a day trip to Stratford-Upon-Avon then we cant recommend the Butterfly farm enough. I'm sure it wont be long before Opeie wants to visit again. Another truly amazing visit to a place that's full of magic.